OAK  ST.  HDSP 


The  Panama  Canal: 

SOME  IMPRESSIONS  AND  COMMENTS. 


& 


BY 

FRANK  TRUMBULL, 

Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors, 

The  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railway  Company, 
Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas  Railway  Company. 


■vvw^ 

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a.  F* 


The  Panama  Canal: 

SOME  IMPRESSIONS  AND  COMMENTS. 


November  27— December  17,  1912. 


Memorandum  by  Frank  Trumbull. 

We  left  New  York  on  United  Fruit  Company  Steamer 
Santa  Marta  ’ at  noon,  Wednesday,  November  27,  1912. 

Arrived  Kingston,  Jamaica,  8:00  A.  M„  Monday,  December  2nd. 
Left  Kingston  4:00  P.  M„  Monday,  December  2nd. 

Arrived  Colon  11:00  A.  M.,  Wednesday,  December  4th. 

Left  Coion  on  United  Fruit  Company  Steamer  “ Carillo  ” 3:30 
P.  M.,  Tuesday,  December  10,  1912. 

Arrived^Kingston,  Jamaica,  3:00  P.  M„  Thursday,  December 

Left  Kingston  4:00  P.  M„  Thursday,  December  12th 
Arrived  New  York  2:30  P.  M„  Tuesday,  December  17th. 


Wintry  weather  first  two  days  ont  of  New  York ; then 
balmy ; then  warm ; then  quite  warm. 

Temperature  on  the  Isthmus  ranges  from  about  seventy- 
two  to  ninety-five  degrees,  and  occasionally  goes  to  par.  At 
Panama  you  are  only  nine  degrees  from  the  equator.  You 
can’t  see  the  equator,  even  on  a clear  day,  but  your  lassitude 
corresponds  with  the  alleged  latitude  and  the  evident 
humidity.  The  Pacific  end  of  the  canal  is  further  east  than 
O the  Atlantic  end,  and  the  whole  thing  is  about  due  south  of 
C Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  Charleston,  South  Carolina 
>"  The  temperature  is  pretty  uniform  throughout  the  year  • 
y you  know  every  morning  that  you  are  going  to  have  a 

on  warm  day’  and  the7  sa7  that  it  gets  monotonous.  If 

you  are  not  used  to  the  climate  the  first  thing  you 
do  when  you  get  up  in  the  morning  is  to  sit  down 
and  rest.  March  or  April  would  probably  be  just  as 
good  a time  to  visit  the  Isthmus  as  December,  and  better 


o 


than  November.  Their  Baptist  weather  usually  tapers  off 
about  the  middle  of  December.  The  rainfall  on  the  Pacific 
side  is  from  sixty  to  seventy-five  inches  per  annum  ; on  the 
Atlantic  side  from  one  hundred  ten  to  one  hundred  fifty 
inches.  It  seems  to  rain  with  less  preparation  than  in  any 
other  place  I have  been — quite  in  contrast  with  Egypt,  where 
the  rainfall  averages  only  one  inch  per  annum.  If  you  go  any 
time  within  the  next  three  or  four  months  you  will  have  plenty 
of  company.  Fifty  passenger  steamers  are  booked  to  arrive 
at  Colon  during  January,  February  and  March.  Personally, 
I am  glad  that  we  made  the  trip  in  December  instead  of 
getting  into  the  crowd  they  will  have  later.  We  crossed  the 
continent — forty-seven  miles  by  rail — in  two  and  one-half 
hours  in  a very  comfortable  train — the  briefest  transcon- 
tinental trip  we  have  ever  made.  The  Tivoli  Hotel,  at  Ancon 
adjoining  Panama,  is  owned  by  the  Government,  is  very  good, 
and  if  you  get  a well  located  room  you  will  have  a de- 
lightful breeze  at  night.  The  steamers  we  traveled  on  are 
very  comfortable  (each  five  thousand  tons)  and  during  the  ex- 
cursion season  good  boats  are  run  by  the  Hamburg-American, 
North  German  Lloyd,  and  White  Star  Lines.  All  these 
steamers  call  at  various  points  of  interest  in  that  part  of  the 
world  and  may  be  used  as  hotels  while  in  port.  They  allow 
usually  one  and  one-half  or  two  days  at  the  Isthmus  and  you 
can  see  the  canal  itself  in  that  time.  The  “ rubberneck  ” 
trains  are  excellent  ; they  take  you  around  in  a comfortable 
way  and  the  lecturer  tells  you  just  the  things  you  want  to 
know.  We  were  six  days  on  the  Isthmus  and  therefore  saw 
everything  in  a leisurely  way  and  very  satisfactorily  because  of 
hospitalities  extended  to  us  for  which  we  are  very  grateful. 

The  things  that  interested  me  most  wrere  the  human,  not  the 
physical,  features  of  the  work  and  I am  glad  on  that  account  that 
we  had  six  days  instead  of  only  two  in  the  Canal  Zone.  I leave  to 
others  a description  of  the  number  of  cubic  yards  of  excavation, 
the  number  of  barrels  of  cement,  the  bust  measure  of  the  locks 


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and  the  canal,  and  all  those  corpulent  and  really  imposing  facts. 
You  can  see  steam  shovels  at  home  ; there  are  simply  a hun- 
dred of  them  there,  masticating  perfectly  good  landscapes, 
and  some  of  the  landscapes,  particularly  near  Panama,  are 
charming.  The  bay  of  Panama  is  not  so  lovely  as  the  bay  of 
Naples,  but  quite  beautiful  enough,  studded,  as  it  is,  with 
seductive  looking  islands. 

The  services  of  our  civilians  (railroad  men,  by  the  way), 
who  initiated  our  work,  are  very  cordially  commended  on  the 
Isthmus.  After  getting  the  work  started  the  transfer  of  it  to 
the  Army  was  no  doubt  a good  move,  because  it  has  given  sta- 
bility to  the  whole  affair ; the  organization  and  discipline  are 
splendid.  This  illustrates  the  value  of  appointments  for 
life  in  the  Army  and  Navy,  and  of  military  standards  of  con- 
duct, instead  of  the  scattering  of  energy  through  the  tempor- 
izing and  terrorizing  methods  connected  with  governmental 
work  at  home  in  nation,  state,  county  and  city.  The  physical 
work  is  a much  simpler  problem  than  it  was  for  General 
Dodge  to  build  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  in  1867-1869,  or 
for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  to  get  from  New 
Jersey  to  Long  Island  under  the  Hudson  River,  the  East  River 
and  New  York  City,  and  to  build  its  splendid  terminals  in 
New  York ; and  less  difficult  than  to  build  the  subways  in  New 
York  City. 

In  computing  the  value  of  what  we  got  for  the  forty 
million  dollars  we  paid  to  the  French,  our  Government  jots 
down  the  stock  of  the  old  and  inadequate  Panama  Rail- 
road at  nine  million  dollars,  which  is  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a mile,  and  we  are  spending  about  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a mile  more  to  relocate  and 
rebuild  most  of  it.  The  average  capitalization  of  United 
States  railroads  is  about  sixty  thousand  dollars  a mile.  The 
gross  earnings  of  the  Panama  Railroad  are  about  ninety-two 
thousand  dollars  a mile  per  annum — as  against  eleven  thou- 
sand dollars  a mile  average  in  the  United  States.  The  first 


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class  passenger  rate  is  five  cents  a mile  and  its  average  rate 
per  ton  mile  four  cents — as  against  an  average  of  three-fourths 
of  one  cent  per  ton  mile  in  the  United  States;  and  when  the 
railroad  was  threatened  with  congestion  the  company  simply 
notified  prospective  patrons  that  they  would  not  take  any 
additional  business ! 

The  railroads  of  the  United  States  are  spending  more  every 
year  for  improvements,  additions  and  new  equipment  to  take 
care  of  expanding  business  than  the  whole  expenditure  in  ten 
years  on  the  Isthmus.  Two  railroad  companies  alone  have 
invested  in  terminals  in  New  York  City  and  vicinity  in  the  last 
few  years  one-half  as  much  as  the  entire  cost  of  the  canal, 
^he  City  of  Ne  w York  is  spending  for  a new  water  supply 
about  half  the  amount  of  the  canal  cost,  and  you  can  see  this 
immense  work  in  a very  agreeable  motor  trip  from  New 
York  City.  Please  understand  that  I do  not  at  all  disparage 
the  canal  work.  It  is  superb.  To  say  anything  less  would 
be  not  only  ungracious  but  unfair.  It  is  well  to  have  enthu- 
siasm ; but  it  is  also  well  to  have  perspective,  and  it  is  fruitless 
to  travel  unless  you  compare  this  and  that  and  assemble 
conclusions,  and  so  I could  not  forget  that  our  railroads  at 
home  also  represent  the  achievements  of  our  own  countrymen, 
who  have  always  hanging  over  them  the  burden  of  sustaining 
their  credit — a spectre  unbeard  of  in  the  Canal  Zone. 

But  there  is  a halo  around  the  canal  because  the  nation 
as  a whole  is  digging  it,  and  a pilgrimage  there  is  not 
only  worth  while  but  patriotic.  The  chairman  of  the  Con- 
gressional committee  said,  in  opening  tin  hearing  at 
Ancon,  Canal  Zone,  on  December  18,  1911  : “ The  people 
seem  to  be  impressed  with  the  opinion  that  we  are  about 
to  realize  the  hope  of  the  ages  in  the  consummation,  under 
Providence,  through  the  instrumentality  of  American  brain 
and  energy,  of  the  greatest  achievement  of  all  time — the  join- 
ing of  the  twro  oceans  through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama — for 
the  benefit,  primarily,  of  our  Army  and  Navy,  and,  second- 


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arily,  for  tbe  benefit  of  the  commerce  of  the  world.”  The 
canal  will  doubtless  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  Navy — some 
say  its  efficiency  will  be  doubled — and  yet  we  are  building 
more  battleships  instead  of  more  railroads.  So  far  as  the 
“ commerce  of  the  world  ” is  concerned,  it  seems  evident 
that  European  commerce  with  the  Orient  will  continue  to 
go  through  the  Suez  Canal,  because  on  that  route  it  passes 
the  front  doors  of  nine  hundred  millions  of  people,  and 
not  until  the  ships  reach  Japan  and  the  east  coast  of 
Australia  do  they  arrive  at  the  line  which  is  equidistant 
via  Suez  or  via  Panama  from  Liverpool.  The  commerce  in  the 
part  of  the  globe  which  lies  between  Panama,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  Japan  and  Australia,  on  the  other,  is  almost  nil , for  it  is 
nearly  all  ocean.  The  trade  routes  of  commerce  to  and  from 
the  west  coast  of  South  America  will,  of  course,  be  changed, 
largely  to  the  advantage  of  Europe,  and  doubtless  there  will  be 
some  shifting  of  trade  centers  in  the  United  States. 

It  is  expected  that  the  first  boat  will  be  put  through  the 
canal  about  September,  1913,  and  that  they  will  be  ready  for 
general  business  about  a year  later.  I think  that  the 
effect  on  commerce  of  the  United  States,  at  least  for 
the  first  few  years,  has  been  very  much  overestimated  by 
people  all  over  the  country.  The  tonnage  per  annum  which 
Governmeut  representatives  estimate  will  go  through  the 
canal  for  the  first  few  years  is  far  less  than  that  which  goes 
through  the  Soo  Canal  connecting  Lake  Superior  with 
Lake  Huron ; it  is  not  even  as  much  as  that  now  being 
hauled  by  the  Chesapeake  & Ohio  Railway.  The  canal  will 
cost  about  three  hundred  seventy-five  million  dollars  and  the 
result  of  that  expenditure  is  placed  without  money  and  with- 
out price  at  the  disposal  of  our  coastwise  commerce — to 
compete  with  the  railroads.  Outside  of  any  question  of 
violating  the  integrity  of  our  pledge  to  other  countries 
(concerning  which  Great  Britain  has  already  filed  a pro- 
test), tbe  ordinary  railroad  mind  is,  perhaps,  too  dense  to 


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perceive  why  after  giving  United  States  boats  a monopoly 
of  the  coastwise  commerce  as  against  outsiders,  and 
quarantining  the  canal  against  all  railroad-owned  boats,  we 
should  also  pay  a rebate  to  the  owners  of  the  coastwise 
commerce  lines.  By  rebate,  I mean  the  remission  of  tolls. 
The  practical  effect  of  this  “ special  privilege  ” is,  of  course, 
to  increase  the  burden  on  other  commerce,  or  to  increase 
the  deficit  from  year  to  year  in  the  interest  account  and 
maintenance  and  operating  cost  of  the  canal — a deficit  which 
must  be  made  up  out  of  the  public  purse  by  taxation. 
Part  of  the  latter  is  paid  by  the  railroads  through 
the  Federal  income  tax,  and,  indirectly,  through  the  pro- 
tective tariff— and  part  by  the  people  of  states  like  Iowa, 
Kansas  and  Montana,  far  away  from  the  seacoast,  who  would 
perhaps  be  glad  to  have  more  railroad  employes.  Query  : 
why  are  railroads  expected  to  be  self-supporting  and  the 
canal  not  expected  to  be  ? The  interest  and  cost  of  mainten- 
ance and  operation  of  this  fifty-mile  canal  will  at  first 
amount  to  at  least  one  dollar  per  ton  of  steamer  contents. 
The  Chesapeake  & Ohio  Railway  furnishes  the  equivalent 
of  a canal  in  the  shape  of  a highway  across  the  Allegheny 
Mountains,  and  carries  the  freight  itself  in  its  own  vehicles 
an  average  distance  of  two  hundred  fifty-six  miles,  for  $1.04 
per  ton. 

The  Canal  Zone  area  is  about  four  hundred  and  forty-eight 
square  miles,  of  which  about  twelve  hundred  acres  (adjoining 
communities  of  people)  are  sanitated  at  a cost  of  about  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a year.  The  towns  of  Colon  and 
Panama  are  cut  out  of  the  Canal  Zone  and  are  a part  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama,  but  our  Government  reserves  the  right  to 
enter  either  of  them  for  the  purpose  of  sanitation  or  to  pre- 
serve order.  The  town  of  Panama  is  very  picturesque  and 
foreign  looking,  particularly  as  it  is  cleaner  than  most  of  our 
American  cities.  This  transformation  of  a fever-stricken 
Isthmus  into  a healthful  and  even  salubrious  place  of  resi- 

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dence  is  one  of  the  great  events  of  history.  The  previous 
discovery  that  yellow  fever  is  transmitted  by  mosquitos 
was  a great  boon  to  humanity.  It  is  said  that  the  maximum 
flight  of  the  mosquito  is  three  hundred  yards  when  not 
blown  by  the  wind,  and  you  cannot  help  wondering  why 
if  mosquitos  can  be  regulated  in  the  Canal  Zone  they  are 
not  also  regulated  in  New  Jersey.  The  hospital  buildings 
and  grounds  at  Ancon  are  very  attractive  in  appearance  and 
beautifully  located.  When  the  French  were  doing  their  work 
on  the  Isthmus  it  was  the  custom  to  have  nurses  on  duty 
only  during  the  day.  The  patients  who  were  the  worst  off 
were  taken  care  of  in  some  sort  of  fashion  at  night  by  the 
convalescents.  The  French  counted  on  large  losses  of  life 
from  yellow  fever  just  as  they  expected  large  human  sacrifices 
when  they  went  to  war.  Negro  as  well  as  white  laborers  are 
well  taken  care  of  in  the  hospitals,  are  tucked  up  in  nice, 
clean  sheets  and  attended  by  white  nurses.  The  Subsistence 
Department  is  another  fine  piece  of  work  for  the  welfare 
of  the  employes.  It  supplies  them  with  food, 
clothing,  etc.,  at  low  prices  and  does  a business  of 
about  seven  million  dollars  a year  in  a very  business- 
like way.  It  buys  wherever  it  gets  most  favorable  terms,  and 
without  paying  any  duty.  Query,  again  : If  it  is  good  to  re- 
duce the  cost  of  living  in  the  Canal  Zone,  why  not  at  home  ? 
It  is  fair  to  say  that  preference  is  given  to  the  United  States, 
but  about  one-seventh  of  the  purchases  (in  money  value) 
are  made  in  other  countries.  The  negro  laborers  get  only 
ninety  cents  a day  and  lodging,  but  are  furnished  three 
good  meals  a day  for  twenty-seven  cents.  Sirloin  steaks  from 
Chicago  via  New  York  are  sold  at  retail  at  twenty  cents  a 
pound.  There  is  almost  no  fresh  food  on  the  Isthmus,  and  so 
practically  everybody  uses  cold  storage  poultry,  cold  storage 
eggs,  evaporated  milk,  etc.  But  everything  is  of  excellent 
quality  and  well  supervised  for  the  general  welfare,  including 
the  big  laundry,  a fine  bakery  and  a model  cold  storage  plant. 


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One  of  the  first  effects  in  the  United  States  of  the  completion 
of  the  canal  will  be  to  diminish  the  large  purchases  referred  to 
above. 

I have  come  back  from  the  canal  impressed  once  more  with 
the  versatility  of  my  countrymen.  On  the  Isthmus  we  are 
patiently  and  unseltishlv  caring  for  the  welfare  of  thirty 
thousand  negroes  (mostly  from  Jamaica)  and  ten  thousand 
other  employes — we  are  doing  everything  well — while  at  home 
we  are  impatiently  and  selfishly  doing  so  many  things  badly. 
Therefore  I say  when  you  go  to  Panama,  take  along  your  white 
duck  suits  and  your  sense  of  humor ; that  is,  a power  to  per- 
ceive our  own  political  incongruities.  And  perhaps  you  will 
come  home  feeling  both  proud  and  humble.  The  canal  work 
is  a fine  case  of  governmental  ownership  two  thousand 
miles  away  from  the  politicians.  The  mosquitos  have  been 
banished — and  equal  suffrage  with  the  predatory  politician 
has  not  yet  arrived.  We  hear  a great  deal  in  the  United 
States  about  the  “ rule  of  the  people,”  but  when  we  want 
to  do  a really  big  thing  in  an  efficient  way  we  “ rule  ” by 
putting  it  in  charge  of  an  autocrat  like  Col.  Goethals — a 
benevolent  autocrat,  it  is  true,  but,  nevertheless,  an  autocrat 
and  not  subject  to  the  initiative,  the  referendum  or  the  recall. 
I think  the  chief  lesson  to  be  learned  from  a visit  to  the  canal 
is  that  we,  like  other  people,  accomplish  the  best  things  by 
centralizing  responsibility  instead  of  by  dispersing  it.  Every 
American  should  be  thankful  that  our  country  has  produced  a 
Col.  Goethals,  a Col.  Wilson,  a Captain  Wood — whom  I met 
most  agreeably — and  a Col.  Gorgas  and  others,  whom  I had 
the  misfortune  to  miss.  And  we  should  be  thankful  that  in 
this  practical  work  those  in  charge  have  permanent  tenure  of 
office  unaffected  by  the  infectious  breezes  of  popular  miscon- 
ceptions. 


[9422] 


